When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and its satellite states broke away, thousands of surplus small arms appeared on the black market. Russians and people of other nationalities from the Eastern Bloc based in the Persian Gulf with strong links to source these weapons, delivered them anywhere in the world by aircraft of dubious charter companies. Arms smuggling through the Persian Gulf – or Arabian Gulf as it is called, depending which side of the water you are sitting on – is not a recent phenomenon. 130 years ago European arms traders based primarily in Oman but also in Bahrain with depots in Dubai and elsewhere along the coast, were gunrunning into Arabia, Mesopotamia and Persia. However the most lucrative market that emerged at the turn of the 20th century were the lands bordering the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) of British India.
Till the 1890s, the Frontier tribes relied on jezails (matchlocks) and, for close-quarters combat, on knives, swords and shields. The muzzle-loading Enfield rifles that the British supplied to the Punjab Frontier Force did not provide the troops with any significant advantage over the jezails in mountain warfare. However, during the Jowaki Afridi Expedition of 1877-78, for the first time the Frontier tribes faced troops armed with breech-loading Sniders which were accurate to 900 metres. By 1891 the primary rifle being supplied to Indian troops was even more effective. The Martini-Henry breech-loading falling block rifle not only had an effective range of 1,100 metres, it was also capable of a rapid rate of fire. The British battalions, who after the revolt of 1857 were always equipped with superior rifles as compared to the Native regiments, were by the early 1890s armed with the .303 Lee-Metford rifles. These had a maximum range of 1,600 metres, used smokeless ammunition (improving accuracy) and were capable of an even greater rate of fire due to an internal magazine.
The Frontier tribes realized to their chagrin that the nature of combat had changed and they eagerly sought newer generations of rifles. This was evident in the Hunza-Nagar Expedition of 1891. During the attack on Nilt Fort, the Imperial Service Troops were opposed by an assortment of rifles – Berdan (Russian), Winchester (American) and Snider (British). It was also evident in the Chitral Campaign of 1895, when the tribesmen were qualitatively better armed than some of the Indian troops under siege as well as the Imperial Service Troops coming to their relief. There were indications that arms were being smuggled from abroad but the issue was not investigated and the Frontier tribes continued to acquire more breach loaders. During the hard fought Malakand and Tirah expeditions of 1897/1898, the colonial troops were engaged accurately at long ranges and suffered unprecedented casualties with 287 killed and 853 wounded. This was dramatic confirmation that the Frontier tribes had acquired modern rifles in numbers which compelled the Government of India to carry out a serious appraisal of the source of these weapons.
An exhaustive inquiry revealed that the Frontier tribes possessed approximately 48,000 firearms of which 7,700 were “arms of precision” including the .303 Lee-Metford, the .450 Martini-Henry and the older muzzle-loading .577 Sniders. Of these, 2,500 had been gifted to allies and frontier villages and ended up with the tribes, 1,400 were lost or stolen from the Army (either from stores, sentries, guardrooms or in action) and a surprising 3,000 were constructed from materials obtained illicitly. Between 1893 and 1898, 84,900 rifles had been destroyed by arsenals in India and their scrap was purchased by Indian and Pakhtun merchants. Useful components were then smuggled “lock, stock and barrel” to rifle factories established in the Kohat Pass (and later in Dir and Tirah), by enterprising Adam Khel Afridis who hired the services of armorers who had served in the Punjab Frontier Force and other Indian units. Equally alarming were the three million rounds of ammunition pilfered each year. Most of it disappeared in transport from the ammunition depots to the Frontier. There was also a big trade in lead collected from rifle butts and artillery ranges, as well as fired cases picked up from the firing ranges and battlefields. The estimate was that over two and a half million empty cases had been left on the battlefields during the various campaigns and after an engagement, Frontier lads used to scour the rocky terrain for empty cases that could be refilled.
The Frontier tribes realized that the nature of combat had changed and they eagerly sought newer generations of rifles
The authorities introduced wide-ranging measures to control the spread of arms and ammunition in the Frontier. They tightened the Arms Act and restricted access to weapons and ammunition by limiting the issue of licenses. Strict checks were imposed on the recruitment and verification of trans-border Pakhtuns who were more likely to steal weapons and ammunition. The Army Regulations on the storage and handling of weapons and ammunition were made more stringent to the extent that during Frontier Operations, to deny expended cases to the tribesmen, the troops collected them off the battlefield. Scrapped weapons were crushed by mechanical steel hammers, railway police inspected luggage for smuggled arms and ammunition and sentries were armed with inferior weapons to make them less attractive for theft.
The immediate effect was an increase in the price of arms and ammunition on the Frontier. By 1897, the local arms factories found it worth their while to manufacture complete homemade rifles (with tools that would have been considered modern in the days of Alexander the Great), instead of relying on more expensive parts of Service weapons. The British made no effort to close down this cottage industry. From their perspective, it was better that the tribal Pakhtuns had inferior weapons of their own making rather than stealing British-made guns or parts – the most attractive being the bolt which was difficult to fabricate.
However, with the tightening of sources of supply from within India, new actors entered the arena. During the Mahsud Blockade of 1902, a number of breech-loading rifles with ammunition appeared in Waziristan bearing mostly British but also Belgian and French markings.
Afridi tribesmen armed with the jezail, circa 1890
When the Brussels Conference Act of 1890 ended African slavery as well as the sale of guns to Africans, the arms trade shifted north from East Africa. European armies had converted to magazine-fed rifles with smokeless ammunition and huge quantities of older weapons were available on the black market. Sixty percent of these weapons were being landed on the Persian coast (to be smuggled to Afghanistan) – some directly from Europe and some through Oman, but largely handled by British traders based in Oman and Bahrain. One of the principal smugglers who moved these weapons through Persia was a Baloch Sardar with the title of “Martini Khan”. The colourful name reminds one of Mulla Rocketi of recent Taliban fame.
To choke this arms trade, the British persuaded the Shah of Persia to confiscate illegal weapons and allow British ships to search vessels flying the Persian flag. Under pressure of the British as well as the Shah, the Sultan of Oman also allowed his dhows to be searched and illegal weapons confiscated. A consignment of 8,000 British rifles with 700,000 rounds of ammunition owned by a very active British firm, Francis, Times and Company, was intercepted. The firm went into litigation, lost two suits against the British Government and went bankrupt. The British Navy continued to act in spite of the protests by many other British arms merchants, exporters, ship owners and manufacturers. By 1899, the value of arms imported directly from Britain had dropped by 80 percent.
Even up to the 1960s, a gunsmith in Darra used no gauges and relied on the hammer and his eye to straighten barrels
Nature abhors a vacuum and the trade abandoned by the British was picked up by the French. In 1899, Monsieur Goguyer arrived in Muscat. Goguyer had strong support from the French Government and within 7-8 years the French share in the Muscat arms trade had risen to 50 percent with British traders down to 24 percent. In 1909 British intelligence estimated that the warehouse of the French trader in Muscat contained over 100,000 arms of many types and brands, and over 10 million rounds of ammunition. The arms were arriving from all over e.g. in 1907 rifles appeared with markings of the Governments of New South Wales and New Zealand. After the First Boer War, these Dominions sold a large quantity of obsolete Snider and Martini-Henry rifles by tender, under the condition that they must go back to England. The purchaser gave an assurance. However the rifles found their way into the Persian Gulf through ships arriving from Hong Kong.
The Sultan of Muscat had signed a commercial treaty with France in 1844, which contained clauses of free trade and under a joint declaration in 1862, the British and French had agreed to respect Oman’s independence. The French and British had a political rivalry that extended far beyond the Persian Gulf. British trade in Morocco allowed infiltration of weapons through the Algerian frontiers and in a tit for tat, the French allowed dhows from Muscat to fly the French flag. The British could neither intercept consignments of French traders, nor under international law intercept any vessel flying the French flag. Not all these weapons were destined for the Northwest Frontier and a large percentage was also flowing into the Arabian Peninsula. In spite of the agreement between the British and the Shah, weapons were still being smuggled to Afghanistan through Persia but in decreasing quantity. But another route had opened up.
Both the Afridi tribesmen in this photo are carrying .303 Lee-Metford rifles. The one on the right also has a prized German Mauser pistol in a wooden holster
Dhows carrying arms and ammunition under the French flag were heading for the Makran Coast. They were commissioned by dealers in Muscat and received by Baloch Sardars who also provided intelligence to the Powinda caravans waiting 10-15 km behind the coast. The Powindas were “warrior-merchants” and a wealthier branch of the powerful Ghilzai tribe based around Ghazni. Over 50,000 would travel to India in winter to barter merchandise from Central Asia. They were not slow to seize the opportunity of entering a more profitable field of business and started directly purchasing arms from Muscat. Powinda caravans took the consignments from the coast to Helmand and onwards to Kandahar and Ghazni. It was estimated that 30,000 rifles and three million rounds of ammunition were being smuggled annually. Consequently, prices dropped and a Martini rifle that cost Rs. 500 in Tirah in 1906 was no more than Rs. 130 in 1908.
Resultantly, the market in Darra weapons collapsed but the enterprising Adam Khel Afridis now invested heavily in the trade with small parties going to Muscat via Karachi and returning through Afghanistan with rifles and ammunition. However they did not know that the Government of India had decided to take several stern actions. The most significant of these was a very close surveillance of Muscat by British cruisers and a blockade on the Makran coast along with amphibious operations against the smugglers’ camps inland. The British cruisers passed information on the movement of dhows to the wireless station at Jask which rebroadcast it to small armed launches that were stationed in coastal waters of Makran. Consequently, the once totally reliable Arab dhows (called nakhudas), now demanded a 100 percent deposit in advance to pay for the ship in case it was captured or sunk. As the trade was becoming precarious, the Ghilzais demanded that the money they had deposited in advance as payment for the guns should be returned but the dealers refused saying that they must take the value out in rifles. The dealers tried to establish depots at other sheikdoms along the coast but strict action and punishment by the British or the ruler of Dubai deterred others.
Types of rifles smuggled to the Frontier Tribes in the early 20th century
It was estimated that 30,000 rifles and 3 million rounds of ammunition were being smuggled annually. Prices dropped and a Martini rifle that cost Rs. 500 in Tirah in 1906 was no more than Rs. 130 in 1908
And then came the crash. With the blockade succeeding, there was a slump in the profits of European traders. The arms warehouses in Muscat closed down. Pakhtuns returning from Makran reported that ships of the “sirkar” had put an end to the trade. Money was in the hands of dealers and the Adam Khel gunrunners, who had speculated on the gun trade, lost heavily and faced financial ruin. This caused a minor crisis on the Frontier during 1910. They started raiding the settled districts and demanded compensation for the losses suffered in what they regarded as legitimate trade. Workshops in Darra reopened but no one had the money to buy even a “pass-made” weapon. Fortunately for the British, due to dissensions within the factions, the Khyber Afridis (the most powerful branch of this tribe), hesitated to take the lead in raising an insurrection. The matter was handled tactfully but firmly. Following the deliberations of a united Afridi Jirga held by Sir Ross-Keppel, one of the great captains of the Frontier, the issue was closed but with no compensation paid.
Further south, the furious Powindas invaded the Makran coast, threatening to cut the telegraph line linking Britain with India and driving the British outposts along the Makran Coast into the sea. The Government of India therefore landed a battalion between Chabahar and Jask supported by a mountain battery and a company of sappers and miners. In spite of the inhospitable terrain, the force made a rapid advance of 100 km to Bent and then further inland. The naval action was reinforced by extensive and effective intelligence-gathering and the overall effect was rewarding. The Powindas scattered and having achieved the aim of a “show of force”, the troops withdrew. The landings were repeated at a couple of more places and a small engagement was fought with heavily armed gunrunners at Pushk.
The price of weapons on the Northwest Frontier increased and the local arm factories were back in business but the blockade and its effects came too late – because the Frontier tribes had amassed a large amount of weapons and ammunition. Within the next decade, the trade through Muscat would be dwarfed by the spoils left by the Turkish and British Armies in Mesopotamia during the First World War.
